Apr. 19,1924 
Ensiling Sudan Grass with a Legume 
257 
Table I .—Loss or gain in weight of experimental portion of silage 
Kind of silage 
Experimental portion 
Loss (—) 
Put in 
Taken out 
or gain (+) 
Sudan grass alone... 
Pounds 
198.0 
Pounds 
198.5 
Per cent 
+0.25 
—1.0 
Sudan grass and soybeans..... 
198.6 
196.0 
Soybeans alone... 
207.0 
209. 5 
+1.2 
+0.4 
-0.3 
Cowpeas alone....... 
246.0 
247.0 
Sudan grass and cowpeas.. 
185.0 
184.5 
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 
There was very little apparent change in weight on the experimental portion of 
any of the silos. Except in one case, that of the Sudan grass alone, all the ex¬ 
perimental portion was excellent silage, and in most cases some of the filler 
portion also. The Sudan grass alone did not pack well, so that not only was all 
the filler spoiled, but also about 10 pounds of the experimental portion were moldy. 
So far as one could judge by taste and smell of the silage, that in one silo kept as 
well as another, or nearly so. In general appearance, however, the mixtures made 
much better silage than the Sudan grass. On the other hand, the mixtures, 
while yielding excellent silage, did not seem to yield any better silage than the 
legumes alone. As suggested by Eckles, 8 the Sudan grass and the cowpeas were 
allowed to wilt before being cut for the silo, and, as he found, a perfectly 
normal and very palatable silage was produced. 
PALATABILITY 
The palatability test conducted with the different silages furnished a very inter¬ 
esting and practical basis of comparison. 
If the palatability of the silages is to be judged by the way in which the 
cows ate them at the start, the Sudan grass had little influence, if any, in either 
increasing or decreasing the palatability of the legumes, even though the Sudan- 
grass silage alone was quite unpalatable. The final conclusion reached as a 
result of the palatability test was that the soybean silage was very slightly more 
palatable than the cowpea silage; that the legumes were very slightly more 
palatable than the mixtures; that there was no appreciable difference between 
the mixtures; and that Sudan-grass silage alone was far less palatable than any 
of the other silages. 
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION 
Table II gives the composition of the silage crops as they were put into the silo 
and of the silages as they were taken out. 
These data show that dry matter does not vary much between silos except in 
the case of the soybeans alone, which is probably due to wilting. As might be 
expected, the percentages of total and albuminoid proteins are considerably 
greater in the mixtures than in the Sudan grass and less than in the legumes. Ash 
seems to be highest in the cowpea silage and lowest in the Sudan grass alone. 
Crude fiber does not vary much between samples except in the case of cowpeas 
alone, where it is considerably lower. Ether extract does not vary much except 
with the soybeans alone, where it is somewhat lower than in the other silage. 
Nitrogen-free extract is highest in the Sudan grass and lowest in the soybeans 
alone, though it must be said the differences are not remarkable. 
» Eckles, C. H. legumes, sudan grass and cereal crops for silage. Mo. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 
162, 25 p. 1919. 
